Developing the test conditions for the first fueled transients in the TREAT reactor

Conference · Sun Oct 14 04:00:00 EDT 2018

OSTI ID:1974774

Kamerman, David W ^[1]; Woolstenhulme, Nicolas E ^[1]; Jensen, Colby B ^[1]; Davis, Cliff B ^[1]; Folsom, Charles P ^[1]; Wachs, Daniel M ^[1]

---

1. Idaho National Laboratory

The restart of the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility at Idaho National Laboratory, re-establishes a national in-pile testing capability for nuclear fuels in accident scenarios. The purpose of the first tests in TREAT are to study the response of nuclear fuel durring a reactivity initiated accident (RIA). The initial objective is to demonstrate the ability to create a desired enthalpy increase in a representative fuel test specimen over a desired time step and to better understand the uncertainty. The five test rods initially available for these irradiations are UO2-Zircaloy with standard Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) geometry. The rods are 15 cm long with 9 cm of active fuel. The initial testing environment is dry helium. BISON fuel performance calculations were run to model the heat transfer during postulated transients. Based on those results energy deposition targets were selected around the range of observable phenomena in the testing environment. Reactor / experiment power coupling factors, step insertion size and transient clipping response times were then calculated using results from a RELAP point kinetics model. Calculated energy deposition targets are 150, 350, 650, 960, and 1300 J/gUO2. The energy coupling factor for the experiments was calculated to be ~1.5 J/gUO2-MJ. Two step insertion sizes were selected: a 0.6% ?k/k step for the 150 J/g transient and a 1.8% ?k/k step for the other transients. Clipping response times ranged from 1.3 seconds to unclipped transients. The experiments will be irradiated in the TREAT facility in the fall of 2018. The first transient will be the 150 J/g pulse with a 0.6% ?k/k step that is unclipped. Follow on tests may modify the reactor operating parameters based on results from previous transients. Any preliminary data available on the results of the transients at the time of the NUMAT Conference will be presented.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Fuel Cycle Technologies (NE-5)
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-05ID14517
• OSTI ID: 1974774
• Report Number(s): INL/CON-18-51718-Rev000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
Nuclear Fuel Experiments